The Scapegoat
by Doonkey
Summary: The sandaime Hokage was not as naive as Minato. He knew the villagers wouldn't understand or care about something as complex as sealing. He made a descision that will have a huge impact on everyone. He decided to use someone to carry the burden for Naruto. A young girl named Kazumi Uzumaki. How will his decision change the Narutoverse?
1. Prologue

**This is my first story I publish so I would it appreciate if you would try to be as nice as possible.**

 **I had the idea for this story a while ago and thought how the Hokage could have made Naruto's life better. This was one of the solutions I came up with.**

 **I don't own Naruto or any other thing I write about, by now I guess we all know who owns it... So, Only the OCs are mine to keep**

 **I'd like to hear your opinions about my idea. One thing before you can read the story, I am not a native English speaker so if you find errors let me know and I correct them.**

 **Prologue**

A small girl not even five years of age ran through the streets of Konoha. She had long crimson hair and eyes like the night sky, dark with many colours mixed in. Said girl was Kazumi Uzumaki, she grew up one of orphanages in Konoha. For reasons unknown to her the villagers seemed to hate her. She was kicked out of the orphanage at the age of three and survived almost two years on her own. She hadn't managed to stay unharmed because it seemed to be a hobby around Konoha to make her suffer when she was seen. Her whole body was covered in scars and bruises till now she managed to have her face unharmed but that was all. Her clothes wear ripped up so badly that she could wear nothing and hide more but she didn't have any dignity left because drunken people loved to… play with her.

The only good thing was that she obtained a summoning contract shortly after her fourth birthday. Kazumi saw a giant of a man with long white hair perform a jutsu and he summoned a toad. To her surprise the toad could speak and then it came to her. Humans didn't like her but maybe animals did. So she performed the summoning jutsu… she would never admit that she had no idea what she was doing and found herself at another place and she found talking cats.

The nekos accepted her rather easily… she learnt that she was the first neko summoner ever and that gave her a big boost for acceptance. She met the elder neko, a cat named Toshi and his wife Kimiko. The boss summons, the children of the two elders, were gigantic. Their names were Kamiko and Takeo. She even got a personal summon, one of the daughters of Kamiko with the name of Miyako. Miyako had a black fur with white dots and had a gently personality. Don't get it wrong in battle she would be ferocious but outside of that she was a pure soul.

Since her signing of the contract Kazumi noticed a few changes on her. Her nails got longer and sharper, her teeth were became more predator like and her pupil were silted. Something she would never admit was that she purred when she felt satisfied… it embarrassed her when she was not in the company of her nekos.

Another change was that her summons adopted her and she had for the first time in her life a family. It was a great feeling to know there was someone who cared for you. One side effect of that was that she became a bit… cat like. She was a curious person and wanted to know everything there was to know. Sometimes she could space out and do nothing for hours only to continue what she had done before. She lived not on the streets of Konoha as before rather she built her home in one of the many forests of the village. She found a clearing with a river nearby and that was all she needed. She made a den with the help of her summons and lived there ever since.

She had obviously no money and everything she needed she got one way or another. Before the contract she stole food and water but after the signing she hunted and fished on her own or with help of the nekos. Clothes were not available for her since she had no money but she didn't need too much again her summons helped her out. They were not great clothes makers but it got the job done.

After she got fixed up by the nekos and her body was no longer on the edge of collapse, she started to train… simply to avoid the drunken and evil humans. Kazumi started to run through the forest on the instructions of Yukio an old neko who was strict but fair. After some time she felt that she faster, stronger and had a lot more agility. With the help of Toshi she began to walk on the path of chakra. Chakra was the greatest joy of Kazumi's young life. If you had the imagination you could do anything with it. She learnt how to walk on trees and on water, all for the sake of surviving.

She even found out that she had a kekkai genkai, Lava release. One day she just sat there in front of her den and did nothing. Out of nowhere she had a warm feeling in her stomach and had to vomit and puked lava out. At first she panicked until she summoned Kimiko and the cat explained to her that this was nothing to worry about. On the contrary it was something really good but Kimiko also warned her not to show her kekkai genkai in front of humans. The only case she was allowed to do so would be when she was in high danger.

So yes, Kazumi was proud of what she became. She was Kazumi Uzumaki of nekojima.

Anyway back to the top. Kazumi ran through the streets of Konoha and that literally for her life. She was chased for whatever reason, known only to the gods, and was having trouble to find a way out of this mess. She ran and ran away but she recognised a few shinobi in the crowd. That was the moment she knew she was fucked… Even worse was that she wanted to run through an alley only to find that said alley had a dead end. Defeated she surrendered to her fate.

 **Hours later at the Hokage office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi was the sandaime Hokage and an old man. He knew he lost some of his edge but he would never admit it. Currently he sat in his office and smoked his pipe while he tried to defeat his toughest enemy… Paperwork. He sighed as he looked trough of some of the petitions. Most of them concerned an innocent girl that he made to wear the burden for his quasi grandson Naruto. She was innocent before and now she most likely hated and distrust humans and to be honest he wouldn't accuse her because of that.

Kazumi was one of the many things he regretted… at least the other things were done in wartime and the children the sacrificed for Konoha lived a bit of a normal life before they died. Hiruzen knew that Kazumi was most likely dead inside and he knew it was his fault. While he gave every protection possibly to Naruto he forgot about Kazumi. When he visited Naruto on his fourth birthday he learnt that Kazumi was thrown out of the orphanage at the age of three. He found her a year later when one of his more trusted ANBU stumbled upon her in one of the forests. She seemed to have built something like a cave and lived together with cats.

A few moments before he heard of another incident concerned to Kazumi. Once again she was assaulted by some of the villagers and even some shinobi. He never thought that it would escalated to such dimensions but he couldn't stop it anymore. Maybe if he intervened a few years ago he could have changed the fate of the young girl but now it was too late.

Hiruzen lay his pipe away and massaged his temples because he had a headache coming and for once he made it himself…

 **A small Q &A at the end**

 **Why is the life of Kazumi much harder than that of Naruto?**

 _Because Naruto had the protection of the Hokage in canon. Everyone knew the Hokage was having a great relationship with Naruto and in this case Kazumi has absolutely no relationship with_ him because of that the villagers didn't feel afraid of retribution.

 **Will the Universe be altered?**

 _Yes absolutely. I will change a few ages for some of the shinobi and some events will be later or earlier happen then in canon. Later on the existence will change the future of course but I try to stick to the original as much as possible._

 **Do you have any ideas for the continuation of the story?**

 _Of course I have some ideas. I plan to let Kazumi enter the academy and let her graduate at the same time as the rookie 9. She will most likely not be on team 7 because to be honest I don't like it that much. I will (hopefully) not bash them but yeah…_

 _I think I will give Kazumi an apprenticeship, most likely in T &I where she will learn under Anko, Ibiki and Yugao._

 **If you have any questions let me know :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**I don't own Naruto or any other thing I write about, by now I guess we all know who owns it... So, Only the OCs are mine to keep**

 **One thing before you can read the story, I am not a native English speaker so if you find errors let me know and I correct them.**

* * *

 **Chapter one**

It was a beautiful day in Konoha, the sun was shining, the sakura trees bloomed and it was breezing a pleasant cold wind softly around the village. The people could be heard laughing and talking, Konoha was alive and it showed it in this little things.

Kazumi found herself on this day at the gates to the academy, somehow she got her hands on a paper concerning her academy admission. She didn't know why or when it appeared but a week ago it suddenly was there. Kazumi talked about it with her summons and together they came to the conclusion she had to become a shinobi to change her life for the better.

So… now Kazumi was standing in front of the academy, a big building which was placed near the Hokage's office. It buzzled full of life and children from the age of eight to twelve were seen all over the place. Kazumi was eager to start her career as a shinobi and change her life… less exiting was the idea of listening to things she wasn't interested, to reach that goal but she none the less was exited.

She saw many children going in the school alongside their parents and assumed that this would be the right way, as it was stated on the paper that parents were allowed to come with their children. Kazumi went inside, trying hard to hide her presence and failed even harder at that, and received many glares from the adults. While she saw that some of the parents just ignored her, others made it up for them and was tripped three times, when she was looking for a chair to sit.

She chose a seat surrounded by girls because she still had a deep fear for men and while the boys were innocent she didn't trust them enough to let her guard down. When she made herself comfortable and wanted to look around to see the faces of her future classmates her attention was caught by an old man, who stood on a podium and prepared himself for a long speech.

"Welcome to the academy of Konohagakure. It is my privilege to be the first one to greet you and welcome you on your path of becoming shinobi. A shinobi is someone who endures and sacrifices. The life you are about to enter is a hard one and one that will not forgive, whether you make a mistake nor failing. I will be honest with you the shinobi's way is often one in the darkness and because of that reason the light shines even brighter for us…

…You will learn many things, some that you are good with and some in which you are bad. Don't let this hinder you on your current path to become a fighter for your family, friends and village. The will of fire burns in all of you and by the end of the academy, you will live and breathe it, I am sure of it…

…To enter the academy it requires three things. First: Love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity. Second: Have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work. Lastly: Be healthy in mind and body. These are the essential things that you will need to have, to be able to enter the academy…" Somewhere along these lines Kazumi just gave up on listening and started to imagine her future filled with achievements, respect and happiness.

"Your abilities will be tested and, accordingly to them, will be placed in separate classes. I wish you luck and success on your chosen path." The old man ended and the crowd began to separate into children and adults. While the children were following some teachers, the adults stayed behind or left.

The soon to be academy students were lead to a training ground right behind the academy and were told they had a few tests. First was a physical test were all the children, separated into male and female, had to run laps and the more and the faster one ran the better. It soon was clear that clan children held an advantage over the civilian born. They just had more stamina and speed.

The two top aspirants were Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Yes, Kazumi noticed that Naruto had the same name but they weren't from a clan and many children had the same surname, beside when she was at the orphanage she never heard of someone related to her, so she assumed it was just a coincidence.

At the girls side it was a certain victory for Kazumi. While she has only learnt to control her chakra from her nekos and only one jutsu the **"Tōton Jutsu"** (Transparency Jutsu), which made her invisible, she was physical trained very hard. After her was Hinata Hyuuga, the heiress of the Hyuuga clan and then Ino Yamanaka, the heiress of the Yamanaka clan.

After a short rest they were brought into several classrooms and given a written test to assess their knowledge. It would be the end for Kazumi had she not her summons because no one ever bothered to teach her how to read or write. Thankfully her nekos taught it to her and implanted much knowledge in her head which she soaked up like a sponge. The test, per se, was rather easy and only the more detailed questions on Konoha's history were unsolvable for Kazumi.

After the test was over the children were told to wait for an hour to evaluate their scores and to find out which class was the most suitable for them. It was a long hour for Kazumi as she had only known the quietness of the nature since her fourth birthday and lived there already for four years. The girls were talking about the boys and in particular, which one they preferred. The boys on the other hand talked about their biggest fights and heroic tales. All in all it was pretty cliché.

Finally the gods showed her mercy and the teachers came in, she was told that she was in the same class as all of the clan heirs and that were surprisingly many. With that the first day in school was over and while it had some fun moments it was rather exhausting not physically but mentally. It was hard to be in a room so long when the weather was so nice outside and even harder was the noise she had to endure. Maybe the old man knew what he was talking about, when he said a shinobi had to endure.

* * *

The first year went by pretty fast, most of the time Kazumi kept to herself but not always could she escape Naruto, who thought that it was "Super-amazing-cool" that they shared the same name. Even if she could just use her invisible jutsu, which she did quite often, it was a nice experience to talk to a human on a friendly basis.

Naruto was open and showed his emotion even if he didn't want it. He was friendly and was just happy to be accepted. On the other hand, he was loud, extremely loud and quite frankly not the brightest but she could understand why. Naruto was an orphan like her but unlike her, he was not thrown out but got his own apartment from the Hokage, whom he saw as his grandfather. He had to fight for attention in his earlier years and now had to fight his loneliness. Kazumi guessed that he developed his loud and honestly annoying personality due to these factors. By the way, the Hokage confirmed to Naruto that the both indeed shared the same name but weren't related.

Other than her relationship to Naruto, there were no other people who got near to her. At first, the glares came only from the civilian side but later the clan children started to mock or insult her too. Kazumi was not sure why but guessed that they saw the civilian adults to insult and glare at her at every possible time and thought it was allowed.

Besides the children the teacher were also biased and were by far not as subtle as they thought they were. Kazumi's tests were harder and sometimes even with a genjutsu casted on them to change the questions. Her instructors showed her purposely wrong stances in Taijutsu class and her teacher in the kunoichi class didn't even allow her to participate.

The first year was mostly spent to train physical and learn history as well as basic survival skills not at all what Kazumi imagined when she went there. Despite all that she liked the Taijutsu lessons and the occasionally spars. The spars had to be fought in the academy stance and that was a major disadvantage for her, while she knew the neko kata, the academy style was never taught her right and so as she tried to stick to the rules, she lost most of the fights.

One major event happened halfway through the year. The almost annihilation of the Uchiha clan with the lone survivor Sasuke Uchiha. Kazumi didn't know when it happened but somehow every, single, girl, fell in love with the Uchiha and she couldn't understand the reason. While he was somewhat good looking, she had to admit that, he had no personality. He was cold, grumpy and spiteful. He didn't even look at the girls who literally presented themselves on a silver plate for him and this caused the tension between the boys and Sasuke to raise. Meanwhile the girls fought over Sasuke as if he were a piece of meat… this would be something she could understand, meat was good, but the real deal not.

A great scene between the leaders of the boy's fan club could be seen almost every day, where they would insult each other and disgrace themselves. Even the only not member of the Uchiha club was a stalking fangirl. Hinata Hyuuga had only eyes for Naruto and to be honest, the way she showed it was more than just creepy. She was a quiet and shy girl and it seemed Naruto had a spark in him that she admired because she would, after school or even before, follow him around the village. Never near him and always looking from a distance. Yes, it was quite creepy.

* * *

The second year was better as they began to learn about how to use chakra and the required control for that. For Kazumi it was as easy as a walk in the park. She learned since her fourth birthday chakra control and could easily stick her whole body full of leave and at the same time rotate them on her fingertips.

Additionally they started on theory and practice of genjutsu and ninjutsu. For genjutsu they just learned the theory and how to dispel it and to be honest Naruto sucked at it. He was so bad he would, after hours of being in a genjutsu, not realize that he was caught. Kazumi decided at this moment that if she would ever fight against Naruto she would him simply put into a genjutsu.

"A genjutsu is created when a shinoi controls the chakra flow of a target's cerebral nervous system, thereby affecting their five senses; this is frequently used to create false images and/or trick the body into believing it has experienced physical pain.

Despite its usefulness, genjutsu is rarely employed, most shinobi preferring the real, tangible effects of ninjutsu and taijutsu over the imagined effects of genjutsu. The difficulty of performing genjutsu in the first place presents an additional barrier to its use: genjutsu require precise chakra control in order to manipulate the target's senses and advanced intelligence to make the illusion convincing.

Those under the influence of genjutsu will either appear to be unconscious or continue to move around under the pretence of the genjutsu. The latter is very effective in battle as a genjutsu user can make themselves appear to be somewhere else and attack the victim from behind or change the environment to make the victim see a flat plain where there is a steep cliff." Was the textbook explanation of the homeroom teacher.

In short a genjutsu is a jutsu that has no physical manifestation because it influences directly the mind of the victim. It is extremely useful if you can master the art but like all things, you need time, practice and talent and most of all an unreal chakra control.

While Kasumi knows that genjutsu will not be were her future lies, because it has way too many restrictions, ninjutsu fascinated her and she was sure that she would become a great ninjutsu user one day.

Other than that nothing really changed the class became a bit smaller due to the fact that a few students were sorted out. That gave Kazumi hope that one day she would not receive the glares and insults from others as the reduction of civilian born students meant that there were fewer people to influence the ones who were not biased to her.

Naruto was like last year and Kazumi doubted that he would change anytime soon. He managed to befriend three other guys and snuck out of the lessons with them. That was a relieve for her as he wouldn't bug her every lunch break, on the other side she felt a bit left out but she chose herself to only to only become familiar to him. Along with that he build a self-proclaimed rivalry with the Uchiha that was rather going against his favour.

The taijutsu classes were still held and they learned more katas for the academy style. Again she was not instructed right and due to that lost many of the more frequently fights. Including to the taijutsu lessons they started weapon training. Despite all that she wanted more and frequently visited the village library to learn as much as possible.

* * *

Her third year brought changes, which were surprisingly positive. The first one was that they got a new teacher Iruka Umino a young chunin with brown hair and a scar across his face. While he didn't seem to like Kazumi much, he properly taught her none the less.

The class was now in its final stage, meaning that this will be the group that would graduate. It brought one other point to her attention, this was the group of people that would graduate with her and she should at least try to make connections. She made an effort and even managed to make a friend, only one but that was enough of a miracle for Kazumi… Ino Yamanaka.

* * *

 **Ino's Pov**

Ino Yamanaka was many things. She had platinum blonde hair and blue green eyes. She was loud, blunt and most of all a gossip and shopping queen but bullying was completely against her nature and when Kazumi Uzumaki, a victim of mockery and insults, approached her, she knew she had to help. It was not that she never saw it happen and when she saw something, she tried to stand up for her but that was all.

Somehow Kazumi managed to worm her way into Ino's heart, not like Sakura who was her best friend but in another way. Kazumi was strange… really strange. She ate her lunch on trees and observed the other children. It was kind of unnerving but her whole appearance was different than what was considered normal. She had crimson red hair and slotted pupils. Her nails were sharp and strong and even her teeth were sharper than usual.

When she was not observing, Kazumi went hiding. Ino didn't know how she was able to do it but she could literally become invisible. Ino never heard were Kazumi lived but she once heard her say her home was in a forest.

Her clothes changed after they learned the **"Henge no jutsu"** (Transformation Jutsu). She now wore a simple black kimono with an island motive on it. Her red hair was half up and the knot was tied by a stick to let her hair stay in place. Underneath, Ino once saw, she wore bandages on arms and legs. On days that involved physical training she wore a rather similar black battle kimono, only that the kanji for neko was engraved, and that she let her bandages be seen.

On days off Kazumi could be found in two different places. The first was the village library, it seemed that she could never read enough, when she questioned that she was just told "I am just curious. Discovering new things is most fascinating." The second place was a small traditional teahouse. Ino was not so stupid to be unaware of the open glares sent to her new friend and it seemed the owner, an old woman, named Tomomi, way past her prime, of the small teahouse, accepted her anyway.

When Kazumi was pissed off, mostly when someone interrupted her peace and quiet, she flashed her teeth and showed her nails. One time, Ino swears, she even heard her hiss at someone. But despite all that they became friends and good ones at that. It was just important to leave Kazumi her independence and Ino was surprised at how easy it was to befriend her.

The last thing that should be mentioned was that Kazumi managed to free Ino out of the Uchiha spell and in hindsight she had to admit Kazumi was right. She didn't know what her old self saw in him that was worth fighting over him. She had to agree with Kazumi that while good looking he lacked the personality and in reality that was all it comes down. She held up appearance to not fully lose contact with her once best friend Sakura but that was all.

Kazumi even managed that Ino took her training more serious, she even ate more now and instead of worrying of becoming fat she just trained to balance it. Her parents were proud of her changes saying that they were never so happy before and her father even allowed her more clan training.

Her friendship with Kazumi was weird but for nothing in the world would she exchange her for someone else.

* * *

 **Normal PoV**

Kazumi was currently writing her graduation exam and looked back at her last year in the academy. Her friendship with Ino was stronger than ever and while both let the other have their own space they were often seen together. Kazumi even went so far as to teach Ino tree walking and allowing her to eat her lunch with her on a tree.

Her discovery of the small teashop and the owner Tomomi led, to her having something akin a grandmother. Tomomi was accepting her whole heartedly and tried everything to help her. Kazumi in return paid her with her undying loyalty and even admiration. Kazumi could often be seen in the teahouse simply looking outside and enjoying her tea. Even her clothes were chosen by Tomomi.

Her nekos finally deemed her ready for new things after her endless chakra control exercises and the mastery of the academy three jutsu. The **"Henge no jutsu"** (Transformation Jutsu), the **"Bunshin no Jutsu"** (Clone jutsu) and the **"Kawarimi no jutsu"** (Body replacement jutsu), she could do all of them without or with only very little smoke. From the nekos she learnt that due to her gekkai genkai she would have at least an affinity to earth and fire elements.

They began to teach her nature transformation, for fire she needed to make wood sticks to burn by only using chakra and for earth it was to make a stone grumble with the use of chakra. The nekos even taught her a few jutsus, the **"Fire style: Fireball jutsu"** , the **"Fire style: Phoenix flower jutsu"** , the **Earth release: Head-hunter jutsu"** and finally the **"Earth release: Mud wall"**. The nekos even allowed her to practise her gekkai kenkai but only when she is in nekojima and was not allowed to perform it outside of life threatening situations.

The only problem with that was… the nekos knew nothing about lava release. Kazumi first started her nature transformation and after it showed a bit success she rewarded herself by making a new jutsu **"Lava style: chasing cats"**. It was a rather simple one but for her first own jutsu good enough. She even went as far as to have the jutsu as both earth and fire variations. The jutsu simply fomed the element into small cat forms, about as high as Kazumi's knee. She could either control them with chakra or just sent them to the direction of her eyesight and even better but more difficult and exhausting she could make them chase her opponent.

The rest of the year was rather plain and boring. In school they just repeated their previous year's material and were being prepared for the graduation. Her acquaintanceship with Naruto diminished a bit as both had found their own friends. Kazumi had Ino and Naruto was friends with Choji, Kiba and Shikamaru. Of course there was his rivalry with Sasuke and somewhere along the years he managed to form a crush on Sakura .That was, at least, what Ino told her.

Anyway after the written test was done and she was sure to pass. Kazumi waited for her practical exam. The first one was an obstacle run, which she won as best kunoichi right behind Sasuke Uchiha. The weapon part was almost too easy for her and there she even beat the Uchiha. The last part was the ninjutsu section. She just had to perform the three academy jutsus which she mastered already and got her headband. Kazumi chose a black one and bound it on her right arm.

She waited for Ino to finish and as she too graduated the both of them were ecstatic enough to oversee Naruto, who was sitting on a swing and looked extremely dejected. Ino and Kazumi just hoped that the both of them were on the same team and spent the afternoon together before they went their way.

* * *

 **I decided to have the general jutsus like Henge, etc. to write in their original form but the other in English. It helps me, to create new ones and to be honest it sounds way better to say "She henged" than "She transformed". Just my opinion :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**I published two chapters today… this will not be the norm so please don't expect that from me.**

 **I don't own Naruto or any other thing I write about, by now I guess we all know who owns it... So, Only the OCs are mine to keep.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a bad headache… a really bad headache. First was the Naruto fiasco, in which the Hokage revealed to him the truth about his tenant and the story Hiruzen came up with to prevent Naruto to be ostracised. Needless to say it went bad. No bad is wrong it went horrible and Naruto was furious but not about his situation than rather the burden of Kazumi, which was placed on her shoulders without having done anything.

Hiruzen was thankful that the he decided to withhold some information or Naruto could have resorted, unknowingly, to the chakra of the nine-tailed fox. Thank god that didn't happen but it could be seen that something broke between the two, hopefully Naruto could understand and forgive him for what he had done.

Already having a bad day Hiruzen called the Jounin-sensei to him and listened to their propositions for the Genin-team assignments. He wanted to see how his subordinates would place them before he would make a final choice. In an effort to reduce his workload.

As everyone was at his office the Hokage was extremely curious and hoped that this would make his day a bit better. He picked up his pipe and smoked it for a bit before he started "You are all here because you were selected to train the teams with the clan heirs. The current situation is that we have 8 clan heirs in this year's graduation class if you count in Naruto as well. Every one of you was required to form a team. Tell me about it." He looked expectantly at Kakashi who got the wink thankfully.

"Maa… I thought that Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha were a good team. Naruto has massive amounts of chakra and will be a powerhouse in the future. Sasuke is a Ninjutsu type and extremely gifted as he is already far better than most of the current genin and with his sharingan he will become one of the best, plus I am the only one who can help him with his eyes.

Sakura has a lot of strength in her body and has extremely good chakra control due to her small reserves. I plan to make her either a genjutsu support or a medic-nin… she has the talent for that, she just needs something that will her help to live up to it. All in all I plan to make them a frontline team" Kakashi explained and stuck his nose back into his book.

"I plan to make a tracking team and selected Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. I know Hinata extremely well as I was her escort to the academy… She has a low self-esteem and I will need to change that beside that she would be a perfect tracker with her family kekkai genkai. Her taijutsu is as you would expect very good and she would work well together with Kiba on the front and Shino from long distance. Kiba is almost the opposite of Hinata. He is loud and brash and has a tendency to be overconfident in his abilities. Kiba has the typical Inuzuka personality with a pack mentality, when he accepts you as member of his pack he will be undying loyal. He has an extremely good partnership with his ninken Akamaru additionally he is very advanced in his clan techniques and specialises in Taijutsu. Shino on the other hand is quiet and observant, he doesn't speak very often but when he does it, it is on point. He seems highly intelligent and would be the strategist. His problem however is that he is too quiet and in a battle something like that could be fatal. Like Kiba and even Hinata he depends too much on his clan skills which he, by the way, excels in. I will need to correct that but I am pretty confident that they would make a formidable team." Blurted Kurenai nervously out.

It was understandable since she became a Jounin just a few months ago and wants to proof herself. None the less Hiruzen noticed that the other three people's brain, including his, stopped to work somewhere between these lines.

Asuma seeing that no one was focusing anymore lighted his cigarette, earned a glare from Kurenai and coughed to get their attention. "Well… I have the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. They will be highly competent in information gathering and espionage. What else is there to say…? I know what will come at me as all three of them are rather similar to their parents."

Hiruzen nodded and thought about. It made sense, the teams sounded balanced and didn't find anything wrong with them but he had to warn them. "Hmm… I would come to the same decision as you but I can see that the only one who really bothered to think about their team is Kurenai…." That got him a few glances from the other two. "A team is not only about skill and history. It is also very important that the members are compatible with each other… According to their files, Naruto and Sasuke are highly competitive be careful of that Kakashi. Sakura seems to only have eyes for Sasuke and from what I heard about her… she is obsessed with him. This could easily turn into a situation where Sasuke gets all the attention of the team while Naruto gets nothing." Hiruzen said to them and especially to Kakashi who nodded.

"The other teams are okay. Ino, Shikamru and Choji know each other literally almost their entire life, they will stick together even ahead of that and Kurenai already knows her team weaknesses and strengths." He finished. They discussed that a bit longer and promised them at the end that they would get their teams.

Now Hiruzen had to deal with the last remaining student… Kazumi. He knew he had done her injustice and that she most likely hated the village. He needed a plan and a good one at that, to keep her on track. She seemed like a highly talented Genin and could achieve great things in the future.

* * *

 **PoV Naruto**

After his meeting with his Jiji, Naruto was sitting on Konoha's signature monument, on the head of his hero, the yondaime Hokage. When he first heard what he contained he was afraid but his jiji explained it to him in great detail. He was safe and even more important was that the village was safe, all because Naruto contained the nine-tailed-fox in his body. He was a hero for Konoha and extremely proud of that.

What made him really furious was what his jiji told him afterwards. His classmate Kazumi was made the carrier for his burden in the eyes of the public. He felt guilty because of that and what made him even guiltier was the fact that he was actually thankful for this decision.

He saw how Kazumi was treated and how afraid she was of adults especially of males, even if it has gotten better over the years he knew her, there was still the sudden stiffness in her shoulders and the widened eyes when she was surprised to see one.

Naruto couldn't and didn't want to imagine what happened to her to have such a reaction but from what his jiji told him she had a hard life. She was kicked out of the orphanage at three and lived for a short time on the streets of Konoha until she retreated into one the forests, where she is still living.

Naruto made his way to his apartment and followed his feet without noticing where they led him. When he stopped to look around, he saw the one thing he didn't want to see. Kazumi… She was sitting on the porch of a small teahouse. His first thoughts were to go to her and apologize and explain it to her.

That was the moment she saw him, her slotted eyes focused on him and a small smile made its way up her lips. At this exact moment Naruto realized he was a coward when it came to emotions like guilt and ran away as fast as he could, leaving a very confused Kazumi behind.

How could he tell her that he was living her life? How to say her that she would have a home if it wasn't for him? Maybe even his friends. No he couldn't… He couldn't tell the first person among his peers, who has accepted him as him, not tell these things. Sure she was strange, sometimes more animal than human but he didn't wonder anymore about the reason because he knew it. She grew up despised by mankind and lived in a forest. It was more than likely that animals were her first and best friends.

And so he ran… until he came home and closed the door. He sank on the ground and was torn between a strange feeling of hate and understanding, guilt, pity and joy for both his jiji and Kazumi.

* * *

 **Normal PoV**

Kazumi was sitting in her usual place of the classroom, in the right corner in the last row and that hopefully for the last time. When Naruto entered the classroom he did everything to avoid looking at her which she found rather strange but there was nothing she could do. She heard Shikamaru ask "Hey Naruto, how come you are here. You have to pass the exam to get a team." Naruto proudly showed off his headband and took the seat beside his self-proclaimed rival Sasuke.

When Ino and Sakura came into the room they made a huge racket. "Ha, I was first billboard." Ino shouted in triumph. "In your dreams, Ino-pig. My foot was clearly faster than yours." They glared at each other and stomped to the seat that Naruto just took. "Hey loser that is my seat." Sakura declared to Naruto who just ignored her. "Hey didn't you listen to me that is my seat." She tried again.

Naruto stood up, walked in front of Sasuke and observed him… closely. So close that their faces nearly collided. "Naruto what is your problem? Leave Sasuke-kun alone." Sakura asked angrily and pumped up her fists. Suddenly in the row before them a student stood up and forced Naruto to stumble… just to kiss Sasuke… on his lips. Needless to say that he got the beating of his life for that and Sakura claimed the seat beside her Sasuke-kun.

Ino made her, headshaking, up to Shikamaru and Choji. When she took her seat she turned to Kazumi and gave her a big smile. When Iruka came in the class was rowdy, like always and tried to calm them down.

"Calm down kids. Today is your last day here and I want to say something to you." Seeing that almost no one heard him, Iruka used his famous **"Big head jutsu"** and yelled "SHUT UP!"

He coughed and began again "Before I tell you which team you are assigned I want to tell you all something. Throughout your life as a shinobi you will work with many and very different kinds of shinobi. There are, of course, missions that you will have to do on your own but that is not the norm, most of the time you will work in teams. Most teams, like your future Genin-team, will be a four man cell. In your example three Genin and one Jounin who will act as your sensei and team leader.

We do this because of the will of fire, together we protect Konoha and each other. Each one of you will have to work together to achieve great things and your Genin-team will always be with you. Even if you don't like them yet you will have to work together for a long time, at least until you are chunin but often beyond that.

And now the last thing I want to say is that if anyone needs something you don't need to hesitate to come back here and ask for advice. Stay safe and well in the future." Iruka-sensei said and to be honest it was an at least decent speech and while Kazumi thought about that, she overheard the first six teams.

"Team seven will be Naruto Uzumaki,… Sakura Haruno,…" Naruto interrupted, turned to Sakura and shouted "Yahoo" "and Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura coming back alive "YES, True Love Overcomes Everything! Take that Ino-pig." Sakura seemed satisfied the complete opposite of Naruto "Iruka-sensei, why has a great shinobi like me be on the same team as the bastard?" Iruka just sighed "Naruto… if you want to complain go to the Hokage, he is the one who decides the teams." That took the wind out of Naruto and he shrank to a chibi version of himself, a very sad chibi version.

"Anyway, where was I? Ah… Yes. Team 8 will be Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Abruame. Team 9 is still in existence from last year and Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara. Kazumi Uzumaki… you will be in an apprenticeship under a Jounin-sensei." And with that Iruka left and many eyes wandered to Kazumi who just shrugged them off, in an experienced way.

* * *

The Genin were all collected with the exception of team 7 and Kazumi. A short time later a purple haired woman came in and called "Kazumi Uzumaki?" Kauzumi just nodded "Follow me" and the woman left with Kazumi on her tail.

The purple head stopped before a tree and walked it up, Kazumi still on her trail followed her. When the woman sat down on one of the branches, Kazumi did the same. "I understand it right that you like to sit on a tree while you eat?" Kazumi nodded and smiled a bit, maybe this woman was not as bad as she thought, at least she considered her preferences.

"Good we will do instructions first. I am Yugao Uzuki, eighteen years old and Jounin of Konohagakure. I like my peace and quiet, a good tea now and then and training. My dislikes are unloyal people, traitors and people who hurt my friends. As far as hobbies… hmm… training, reading and watching the moon. My current goal is to make you ready for the chunin exam in six months." Yugao introduced herself and Kazumi smiled even more, she guessed that she could have gotten it worse.

"My name is Kazumi and I am twelve years old. I like the same things as you as well my nekos, Ino-chan and Tomomi-baachan and dislike… the villagers and most of the male populace. My hobbies are hanging out with my nekos and spent time at the library and at Tomomi-baachan's teahouse. My goals are to become strong enough to protect those precious to me and become worthy of my summing contract with the nekos."Kazumi made herself known to her new Sensei.

"Good, now we… wait did you say summing contract?" Yugao asked confused. "Yes. I have the summoning contract for the nekos. Wait I show you…" Kazumi said before she made the necessary hand signs and slammed her hand on a branch and Miyako puffed into the world.

Yugao was stunned… She hadn't expected this. She was told to train a girl that was thought to be the container of the fox until she learned the truth from the Hogake. How on earth did she get one…? She was brought out of her musing as the cat in front of her snuggled herself onto Kazumi and began to purr as her new student stroked her.

"This is Miyako, my personal summon. She lives most of the time here in Konoha with me. Miyako meet my new Sensei Yugao." The cat opened her eyes and studied the woman in front of her, who claimed to be her summoners new sensei. "I am Miyako of nekojima and I will keep an eye on you as long as you didn't earn my trust."

"Hello Miyako. It is a pleasure to meet you… So… Kazumi, how did you get your hands on a summoning contract?" Yugao greeted and asked the question that was burning in her mind.

"I… Well, I saw some tall white haired man try to use the jutsu and well he seemed rather… unwell and tried so often that I could copy the hand signs. He was not exactly… fast acting so it was rather easy and seeing that he could talk to toads… I too wanted to be friends with animals" Kazumi explained and Yugao knew instantly what happened. Jiraiya the drunken idiot was so drunk that he couldn't even perform his signature jutsu right, she would have given much to see that but well… it at least explained some things.

Yugao nodded her head and started where she left off. "So as I was going to say. Usually, Jounin-sensei give their students some sort of test that has mostly to do with teamwork but seeing that you are my only Genin and we will have an apprenticeship like relation, I will not test you. So congratulation Kazumi, you are officially a Genin of Konohagakure. We will meet again in two days at 6 am at the gates of training ground 44. A friend of mine recommended it highly for Genin training. Let's take a look at it." Yugao said and let Kazumi go home for the day.


	4. Chapter 3

**I have not updated for so long (2 weeks) because I had an exam at my university and had to learn for that. It can happen from time to time that I will not upload regularly because of this particular reason.**

 **I don't own Naruto or any other thing I write about, by now I guess we all know who owns it... So, Only the OCs and the idea behind are mine to keep.**

* * *

It was three month ago that Yugao became the sensei of Kazumi, which she preferred to be called as she didn't like the name Uzumaki saying that the name feels wrong on her. She accepted the forceful retirement from ANBU because the Hokage almost begged her as he couldn't find another possible sensei. Now one month later she came to like her little kitten and the cats that followed her.

At first both were rather… careful around each other. Yugao because she was an ANBU and didn't know how to handle a kid and Kazumi because she didn't know how to handle the former ANBU. But after some time they managed to overcome their hurdles and became a great team.

Yugao went with Kazumi to the forest of death and let her student show off what she got. She was surprised as Kazumi showed her the cat kata, her Jutsus and even more impressive her very own Jutsu. That it was cat themed came as no surprise as practically everything in her student's life was associated with cats.

Kazumi's chakra control was astounding and when she asked the reason for that, she just heard that the nekos drilled her in these exercises. That was something that Yugao almost felt jealous about, the cats of Kazumi were simply amazing. She had no problem with the cats demand to watch the training of their summoner. Not only profiteered her student but even she herself was taught a few things when she watched Kazumi's training.

Training was one part but it was the other things that let them grow together. A month after they started Kazumi brought Yugao to her Tomomi-baa-chan. Yugao recognized her as a retired Jounin of the same age as the sannin and a veteran of two wars. That alone was enough for her to respect the old woman.

When she was there she understood why Kazumi loved the shop and the owner. Tomomi spoiled Kazumi rotten, she got free teas and food and was always welcomed. When there were guests that had something against Kazumi, Tomomi chased them away and gave her little kitten, as she called Kazumi, some sweets and a smile.

When Yugao asked Kazumi why she showed her this place, she answered "Toshi-jiji said that you could and should be trusted to a reasonable extent." She felt a bit flattered that the elder of nekojima had a high enough opinion of her to say something like that.

Somewhere in this month, Yugao made a grave mistake… she introduced her kitten to Anko. In hindsight she realized that this was not her brightest idea… An afternoon later and Kazumi delight to burn things, grew to a passion of burning everything left and right. She was thankful when the dose of Anko's craziness decreased a few days later. She would have to make sure that those two would not meet again anytime soon.

Anyway, Yugao began training Kazumi in kenjutsu. It came surprisingly easy to her student, maybe it was because of the cat kata that focused on speed, precision and evasion, the same strong points as her own kenjutsu style. Kazumi was more than willing to learn the art of the sword because she could clearly see that she was not as strong as some of her former classmates. She was fast and elusive but it didn't help that because of her possible smaller height she would have a smaller reach.

When Yugao heard that Kazumi had no money, absolutely no money and that she lived from what she got from Tomomi and the animals she hunted, she decided it was time for a few D-Rank missions. No one liked these chores but they were easy to make money and her student could start to save it for later, for example when she needed better equipment, new attire or even get a own apartment.

To reach their goal, they took as many missions as possible up to five a day. While they neglected training they would make it up in the future, when they had the money and the necessary requirements for C-Ranks. For these higher missions, one needed at least 50 Ds or more.

Most of the time they took simple courier mission inside of the village and a favourite mission of them was to capture Tora. While almost all teams struggled with the cat, Tora loved Kazumi and came on his own will with her. This mission would take almost a day for other teams but for this team all it took was that Kazumi reached her hand out to Tora and it was completed.

After they reached their goal of fifty missions Yugao started Kazumi's training again. This time a much harder one. She bought her chakra weights and had Kazumi increase the weight every time she didn't feel them anymore. Yugao even began to take advice from Guy for the training as the man, despite all his weirdness, was the best Taijutsu user this village has ever seen.

It was one of these advices that had led to both of them running around Konoha. Yugao had the opinion that while her student was training she should do it too because she didn't want to end up like many other Jounin-Sensei who lost some skills because they slacked off. Prime example for this was Kakashi Hatake or even Asuma Sarutobi.

While the later would still be literally be forced by Kurenai to train with her and retain most of his skill, the former one was not as good. After Kakashi left ANBU he found himself in a hole and didn't know what to do with himself. He still took his missions earnestly but he didn't care any more about his health and skills.

Kakashi was careless with his body and would often return from missions with injuries some more dangerous than others. His skills were decreasing because the man didn't train anymore like he did before his retirement and even worse was his dependence of his sharingan.

Anyway currently the two of them were sitting in the hot springs and enjoyed themselves. Thankfully they were alone as Kazumi didn't like to be with other people and it took Yugao long enough to gain her trust to let her guard down a bit.

"Sensei, when can we do something else than boring D-Rank missions?" Kazumi pouted at her. It still surprised Yugao that her student who was so quiet and most of the time collected, could do something like that and she found it very hard to resist those puppy eyes but thankfully she didn't have to see them often. She saw this as a sign of trust from Kazumi.

"Hmm… I don't know. Maybe a bit longer. I heard that Kakashi's team got a C-Rank a week ago but we are just a two man team." Yugao reasoned. "But Sensei, I know for fact that they didn't have the requirements to take a C-Rank." Kazumi complained.

"Well, all I know is that the blond boy on their team threw a tantrum and the Hokage humoured him" Yugao said but deep down marvelled about the reason for this. Hiruzen Sarutobi would not just let a Genin team take mission they are not ready for just because one of them threw a tantrum, right?

"It's always like this. Naruto gets what the wants and even calls the Hokage an old man in front of everyone. If I would do something like this I don't know if I would survive it." Kazumi snorted loudly, the anger clearly in her voice. "I would not let it come to this. You are my student it's my responsibility and privilege to protect you." Yugao declared in a firm voice.

"Really sensei?" Kazumi looked up to her teacher with hope and even admiration in her eyes and Yugao found herself thinking about the life her student had led until now. "Yes, I would do almost everything for you." She nodded to her student with a smile and Kazumi could be seen with a small blush and a happy grin on her face.

* * *

When they met in front of the Hokage tower the next day to get their mission for the day Kazumi was still sleepy. "Mornin' Sensei…" She greeted her sensei rather unenthusiastic. "Good morning, little kitten. How was your night?" Her Sensei chirped way too happily for her taste.

"Good… really good. Should have been longer…" Kazumi drawled out. Yugao waved it off and said "Well, you will survive it… hopefully" and grinned "Anyway let's get our mission and after we have done it we train a bit more."

When they finally got to the mission table after waiting for an eternity Kazumi asked the Hokage what really had her head hurt. "Hokage-sama, when can we go on a C-Rank mission?" She asked in a surprisingly polite way. "When I think you are ready for it and I don't think that you are." He answered.

"But you gave team 7 a mission and I am fairly certain they are far less prepared than we are." Kazumi began to argue but one could hear her irritation in the tone. Despite the Chunin and Jounin around that absolutely didn't like her they had to agree with her.

"I simply think they are better suited for this kind of missions, they have more members that can have their back if something goes wrong." He kindly told her. "Hmm… Yes, of course. The angsty avenger who would not think twice about betraying his village to get his revenge. The blond one trick wonder and the pink haired violence loving woman who can do nothing in a combat" She snorted loudly.

The entire room sweat dropped at this. Earlier this morning came a message that the team ran into trouble and everyone in the room knew about this. The description while very harsh was not without truth and even the Hokage had to admit that.

"This is not your concern, I decided it and you have to live with it." The sandaime ended the discussion with visibly irritation as his eyes narrowed. "Of course, Hokage-sama." She said stretching his title and left with her Sensei.

When the two were outside after receiving their mission Yugao took Kazumi to a more private place and thought about what to say to her student. "Kazumi… What you did was inappropriate but I can understand how you feel but you have to always have in mind that the Hokage is our leader, his word is law. I know it is not fair and honestly I too don't want to spend the rest of our time together doing nothing but D-Rank Missions.

Sadly the truth however is that you and I will most likely never leave the village. I will speed up our training and we will do exactly the amount of D-Ranks needed to get you into the Chunin exam. Luckily while the Hokage hands out the missions, the Jounin-Sensei decide if the Genin can participate in the exam or not. If you can manage to achieve this, no one can deny you higher missions.

We will have to drill you into the best Genin ever to let you have a chance in succeeding and participating alone in the exam. Meet me at our usual time tomorrow at the training ground 44."

"Thank you Sensei" Kazumi replied with utmost respect and a more than happy smile. It felt good that there were people that cared for her. Even if it was only one but she still hated the village for what they have done to her. Maybe she should leave the village but honestly she didn't know where to go if she really did that, she had to carefully plan this and now had to considerate her Sensei as well.

* * *

True to her word Yugao-Sensei stepped her training up again. She now was sparring with her sensei every day and she didn't hold back. After the sparring Kazumi was always a mess of blue and black bruises with a lot of red mixed in between, despite the injuries and the aches she got she was more than happy to follow her sensei's plan because it proofed to work, she could literally see her advancement.

With the help of her summons she got stronger in her Cat Kata as well and even learnt a few more Jutsus from them and Yugao-Sensei. Her Sensei was not the best with Ninjutsu, Genjutsu or Iryoujutsu, this didn't mean she was bad at it on the contrary she was really good. Just not as good as a specialist, she had other strength and she taught her them.

Yugao concentrated on the more traditional shinobi arts like stealth and Taijusu combined with Kenjutsu. An aspect Kazumi never learnt until now were the kunoichi arts and Yugao was adamant on teaching her them. Kazumi had no problem with using her body for her advantage as she never learnt the modesty of women like the other children had.

While this was one of the more known lessons for the kunoichi it was not the only one. Poison was another and Kazumi was thrilled to learn it. She was being taught how to differentiate the several lethal and non-lethal poison as well as those with healing abilities and how to make antidotes and poisons.

After another three months the Chunin exams were finally there and Kazumi couldn't wait to show them all how much stronger she was than the rest of them. She would prove them that it was a mistake to mistreat her and she will let them know how she feels about her treatment.


End file.
